An arrangement of the kind recited in the title of the invention is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,188. In this patent, an electric consumer, which can be switched off in a two-pole manner, is monitored on the basis of electric variables which are detected in the region of the drive element. The consumer can, for example, be an electric motor which is actuated by at least one pulse-shaped control signal via at least one drive element. Means for recognizing faults such as short circuits in the area of the consumer or of the drive element actuating the consumer are detected by a comparison to limit values.
A disadvantage of this known arrangement is the very substantial complexity with respect to electronic components.